T-Birds down Blazers, 3-1

The Seattle Thunderbirds earned a 3-1 victory over the Kamloops Blazers on Sunday evening at ShoWare Center behind two goals from Roberts Lipsbergs and good goaltending from Brandon Glover.

Glover stopped 30 of 31 shots to get the win in his third game in three nights. His record improves to 13-10-1-0 with the win.

The first period ended scoreless, with each team failing to convert on the power play. Glover stopped all 12 shots in the period for Seattle, while Kamloops' (21-7-1-2) Taran Kozun stopped all nine shots he saw.

The Thunderbirds (14-13-1-0) took a 1-0 lead midway through the second period on Roberts Lipsbergs 12th goal of the year. Connor Honey knocked the puck past a pinching Blazers defender to start a two-on-one rush up the ice with Lipsbergs. Honey hesitated and then passed the puck across to Lipsbergs who faked Kozun and put a backhander in the open net. The goal came at 9:05 of the period.

Both teams had several power plays during the period but failed to capitalize. Shots for the second frame were 9-7 Seattle, and 19-18 Kamloops overall after two periods.

In the third period, Kamloops tied the game at 1-1 off Joe Kornelsen's backhand goal. Charles Inglis and Tyler Bell had the assists for Kamloops with the goal coming at 13:29.

Seattle responded three minutes later when Justin Hickman scored his seventh of the year. Riley Sheen chased a Blazer's defender into their zone and managed to get the puck to a trailing Hickman who rifled a snap shot past Kozun to give the T-Birds a 2-1 lead late in the third. The goal came at 16:52 of the period.

Lipsbergs scored his second goal of the game with 40 seconds remaining to seal the win for Seattle. He got a breakout pass from Jesse Forsberg along the left hash marks and threw the puck down the rink and into the empty net to make take the final tally to 3-1.

It was Lipsbergs' 13th goal of the year and third in the past two games.

Shots in the third period were 13-12 Seattle, and ended 31-31 overall. Kozun made 29 saves for Kamloops and his record is now 5-2-1-1.

T-Birds single game tickets for the 2012-13 season are available online at the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare Center box office. The ShoWare Center Box Office is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday game days at 10 a.m. and Sunday game days at noon.

T-Birds season tickets are on sale. Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.

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